Predictably, with the publication of Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s new book Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now, her critics are dragging out all the old canards they used to discredit her. One of the most vicious summaries is Max Blumenthal’s piece at Alternet, “Exposing anti-Islam author Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s latest deception.” It faults her for claiming that 70% of violence in the world is caused by Muslims (yes, an erroneous claim, but see below), for “her increasingly vitriolic tirades against Islam and its adherents” (she reserves what “vitriol” she has, and I haven’t seen any, for jihadist extremists and Muslim mistreatment of women), and for lying on her immigration application for the Netherlands—something she freely admits in her previous book Nomad, and which the Dutch government was fully aware of when she was in Parliament.

Blumenthal’s criticisms are demolished in an article in The Spectator by Daniel Mael, “